Child Care Center Feasibility Study in Delaware

A modest ticket in a state that ranks low by volume

Delaware appears in SBA's files for child care with 33 loans approved from FY2017 to FY2026, worth $15.7 million in gross dollars. By volume that places the state 43 of 53 for the class, so nobody should expect a deep well of local precedent. Inside Delaware, though, child care is a recognisable part of small business lending: it sits 6 of 39 among asset classes, and the location quotient of 1.10x says child care weighs slightly more in Delaware lending than in the country at large. This page offers a profile of an ordinary cell and makes no claim of an outlier.

Loan sizes and who holds them

The median loan is $150,700, just 0.33x what the class borrows elsewhere, with loans in the central band running from $75,000 to $849,000. That is a small-ticket cell. Of the 33 loans, 30 are 7(a) and 3 are SBA 504, and franchised operators make up 18.2% of loans. The first 7(a) name is Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company, with 8 loans worth $630,700, and next comes Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB with 6 loans worth $3.5 million, a far heavier average. By county, New Castle leads with 20 loans, Sussex has 8 and Kent has 5.

What the floors can and cannot say

Cancellation and charge-off rates are floors drawn from SBA's files. Loan Analytics withholds them for this cell under its own small-count rule. A withheld rate is different from zero; a borrower should not read the silence as safety, and nor does it certify a clean book. Figures for lenders describe loans SBA lists as held by that institution today, which may not be the first holder.

Delaware child care: the tests that matter

A feasibility study for a child care center here must begin with enrollment demand in the families around the site, set against the licensed capacity already in the market and the staffing ratios a state regulator will demand. Because the typical loan is small, the study should separate a leasehold fit-out from an owned building, since the debt service coverage test and the appraisal differ sharply between them. Revenue should be modelled on realistic tuition and a slow fill, with a downside case beside it. An appraiser will look for the cash flow the licensed capacity can produce, so the forecast has to be one the valuation can support.

One coding limit applies. The industry code lumps in-home providers in with commercial centers, so some loans in this record may belong to in-home providers rather than commercial buildings, and a sponsor should treat the figures as an indication of financing patterns rather than a count of comparable centers.